Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Math in Every Day Life
Such an important part of teaching any class is being accessible to students. An important extension of this lies in your ability to immerse your students in the content they are learning. A great way to do this is to have them use the differing technological mediums to find examples of math. It can be as simple as an common app that incorporates math, to a TV show where the plot is determined using mathematical processes. Making students look for the content you teach in their every day lives helps them make the link between school material and methods used in life.
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This is so true! Throughout my high school math experience my teachers for grade 11 and 12 used the show Numb3rs to show examples of where the concept we were learning is used in real life by showing a TV show. It felt like we weren't really learning, which to be honest is what some kids want at school, but we got to see how the concept we had just learned was used.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a technique that I plan to use in my future classes as it shows students that the concepts that they are learning are beneficial to their life outside the math class as well as for many occupations which they may choose in the future. A technique like this is very helpful to many students and would benefit the class as a whole.
I agree that mathematics connections to everyday life make these learning experiences for the students more authentic and relevant. As students make real life connections, mathematical knowledge becomes useful and applicable. Math concepts and application of these concepts are used and needed in all spheres of life. When we teach and learn these in a class setting sometimes it is difficult for the students to relate to them and the concept become abstract in nature and stays relevant to the text books or class settings only.
ReplyDeleteThese relationships between mathematics, or any subject, with real life are extremely important. Whenever we teach new skills to students with Special Needs we are concerned about generalizing these skills to more than just one situation, or location. Why, then, do we not focus on this as often with our mainstream students. I remember thinking that what I was learning in school had no relevance to real life because no one took the time to make the connection. In Literacy we stress Text to World connections. We should be trying to incorporate this as much as possible into our Math classes as well.
ReplyDeleteI remember how amazed I was when first exposed to math equations that were used to study traffic flow or why traffic jams occurred. Of course some were very sophisticated including driver's reflex time of breaking and time to respond to seeing another driver slow down or break. Certainly having students appreciate some of the vast applications of math in every day life (besides a cashier making change) will re-influence their appreciation. It reminds me of when I was shown all the chemistry that is involved in baking and how it explained various baking processes and techniques.
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